Annapurna’s “Fair and Balanced” is assembling a hell of a cast. The timely Annapurna pic is inspired by the women who took down Fox News mogul and sexual harasser Roger Ailes.
Charlize Theron has been attached to play former Fox News host Megyn Kelly since May, and now fellow Oscar winner Nicole Kidman has signed on to portray former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson in the feature. Deadline reports that “I, Tonya” Oscar nominee Margot Robbie is also in talks to join the project as a fictional Fox News associate producer named Kayla Pospisil.
“Fair and Balanced” is a working title.
“The film will tell the story of the ensemble of women who took on the toxic male culture of Fox News and helped depose its chief architect,” according to its logline. Despite many outlets referring to it as a Roger Ailes movie, the story is focused on the women who came forward with their accounts of the honcho’s sexual advances, intimidation, and threats.
Ailes resigned from Fox in July 2016 following reports accusing him of sexual harassment and misconduct. He died in May 2017.
Jay Roach (“Trumbo,” “Game Change”) is directing a script from Charles Randolph (“The Big Short”).
Theron is a co-producer on the project. The source doesn’t specify if Kidman or Robbie will have producing credits, but both have been very active behind the scenes as producers. Among other projects, Kidman exec produced Emmy winner “Big Little Lies” and Robbie produced acclaimed Tonya Harding biopic “I, Tonya.”